E-2009: Poll prattle

Aged 73, loser of 25 polls tries againNew Delhi: He has contested 25 elections in Orissa since 1957 and lost all of them. But that has not deterred a 73-year-old from trying his luck again in the Lok Sabha polls.

K Shyam Babu Subudhi, a homeopath by profession, is back again as an independent contender from not one - but two - Lok Sabha constituencies, Aska and Berhampur.

His trying as an independent, and not as the candidate of a party, is aimed at giving a moral boost to common people who want to join politics, he says.

Subudhi has tried 15 times to the Lok Sabha and 10 times to the assembly, in the process crossing swords with heavyweights like late former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, late chief minister Biju Patnaik as well as his son and current Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

This time too he is facing a tough poll battle. But Subudhi said: "This time I hope to win." Never mind that he has forfeited his deposits on all previous elections.